Yaakov's impact on todays Talmidei Chochamim

B"H there are Talmidei Chochamim in almost if not all Jewish communities, large and small, across the globe. In my own community there are 4 Kollel Rabbaim, 6 Yeshiva Rabbaim, 6 Day School Rabbaim, and 4 Girls School Rabbaim... this isn't counting the Rabbaim and other members of the community that I would put in that category.

This is utterly amazing; 20+ Talmidei Chochamim in a community of roughly 65 - 70 families. Astounding right? And how many of the rest of the community are studying Torah, just about all of them.

I'm blessed to have some of these as my closest friends, my Rebbe - R' Chaim Silver, whom I consider the most learned man I know, is my closest friend besides my own wife. How am I and my community blessed by this? How is it possible that we merit to have such Torah Scholars in our lives?

We need only to review last weeks parsha (V'yechi). Yaakov of course was a Talmid Chocham, the most prolific in his days. The parsh starts out with the words "v'yechi Yaakov", Yaakov lived.

Why does the Torah use the word "v'yechi"? It could have used v'yagar instead. I believe it's Rashi that says this simple yet extremely profound answer:

Yaakov led a tumultuous life; he had to deal with Esav, Lavan, and the loss of his son Yosef. This is some very tough stuff here. The Torah says "v'yechi" because now that he is with his entire family (including Yosef), he is living his life - the Torah even calls him Yisroel, meaning he got his navua back and was now (again) the progenitor of the Jewish people.

He proved that he could live in eretz mitzrayim and still be holy, a Navi, and a Talmid Chocham. This is our example, this is why we are blessed to have the Talmidei Chochamim we have had since Yaakov.

This is Yaakov's impact on us today - we can live bchutz la'aretz and still be great, Yaakov proved it.

We should all merit to learn by and come close to our Torah Scholars, they are the ones that keep this world going - without them to master the Torah and teach it to and with us, life as we know it may not exist.